Key Democrats Ask Lame Duck Obama For Huge Favor

Speaking at The University of Michigan yesterday a longtime Hillary Clinton supporter and civil rights actiivist Jesse Jackson called for president Obama to help the country heal and give a break to Hillary.

Jesse Jackson Calls On Obama To Pardon Hillary in Name of Justice

Said Mr. Jackson,

“President Lincoln pardoned Jefferson Davis and other confederates who engaged in treason against the United States of America in an effort to bind up and heal wounds after the Civil War. President Ford did the same thing with respect to Richard Nixon after Watergate even though he had violated, dishonored and debased the Constitution. While it was clear that he would have been impeached and convicted and driven from office, legally and technically he was never indicted, tried, nor convicted of anything. Unique to Ford and Nixon was that Nixon was never officially accused, tried or even saw the pardon. President Ford was simply determined to stop the potential harm, restrain the hemorrhaging and heal the wound.”

He continued,

“There are those in their anger and spirit of retribution want to use Hillary Clinton as a trophy in the name of false justice. It would be wise in the name of justice and in the lineage of Lincoln and Ford for President Obama to do the same and pardon Hillary Clinton. President-elect Trump promised while a candidate to appoint an special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton and try to put her in prison even though Secretary Clinton has not been legally accused, indicted, tried or convicted of anything. President Obama should follow President Ford’s example and offer a preemptive full pardon in inoculation against politically motivated prosecution in the spirit of healing the division in our country.”

Speaking directly to the students he added,

“Students, don’t let them take your hope. Deep water doesn’t drown you. You drown because you stop kicking. There is a tug of war for the soul of America, do we want to be an aristocracy or a democracy? To be silent is to betray your conscience. You must not be silent in the face of violation of human rights.”

It is not clear at this time what President Obama plans to do on this issue. He has said in the past, as recently as August, “I’m going to, as best as I can, make these decisions based on the merits, as opposed to political considerations.”

But otherwise he has been silent on the issue. If we look at his overall commutation policy, it seems quite liberal regarding victims with long sentences for non violent drug offenses. It should be noted that a majority of these people were locked up under laws Bill Clinton signed in back in 1994 that even he now admits was misguided legislation. So if that is any guide, it seems likely President Obama will at least consider a pardon for Hillary.

It is a difficult question – on one hand the country needs to come together, on the other hand there cannot be two sets of laws in this country.